Killington is setting themselves up for a good early season

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http://www.killington.com/winter/beast/blog/authors/tom/early-season-insurance

Cliffs: Killington installing a walkway from the top of the Northridge Triple to the K-1 Gondola which will allow them to open the Northridge triple and download off K-1 at the end of the day.

The walkway will be in place for this October and historically, they've been able to make snow in the Northridge area from October 15th on and not lose it all.

Should allow for an earlier opening and better odds that they can remain open as they will not need to fight the effects of lower elevation and eastern exposure of the lower mountain trails to open.

It's not lift-served, but I think we can all agree that a short walk back to the gondola sure beats not skiing at all in the fall!
 
Myth.

Used to be packed. Nowadays, midweek, the place is deserted and you can ski right onto most lifts. Weekends are busy, but not packed by any means.

Pricing, yeah it is a little higher, but as a whole, their pricing is on par with most other large New England resorts.
 
killington is sick. i've been there the last few years, too bad i'm 8 hours drive away or i'd be there more often. ^it does cost a ton and its packed sometimes, but i'll hopefully be out there again this year.
 
fuck yeah killington

and killington being packed is a complete mythh. i was there during february break 3 seasons ago which is one of the busiest time of the year and the only lift that had more than a 5 minute wait was the gondola, basically every other lift was ski on, plus they got a foot of snow that week.

i just hope they step up their park a little this year which i sure they will do, with the dew tour.
 
ur an idiot. u obviously havent been to killington in a long time. killington is my home mountain and the only time that i felt it had a long line was Martin Luther King weekend and what mountain isnt crowded that weekend? and killington is really not that more expensive than other big mountains in the east
 
Yes this is a great thing that we are doing up here. For everyone saying that Killington gets to packed, you are wrong. There are many off peak week days that you can stop on a trail and be the only soul on it for 10 minutes.
 
I've never been to killington, when I saw this i was expecting a long straight tar pathway. pics were surprising, that seems sick though except shovelling it.
 
This! So true. My skin is crawling just thinking about it. So excited.
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That staircase looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Anyway stoked to see that other east coast skiers can get out earlier then the rest of us.
 
i worked up there this summer, and heard about this idea a couple months ago and the first thing i did was laugh. its a good idea but really? is two weeks earlier that important to them? i just cant wait to hear about all the complaints of the people bitching as they walk all the way back to the top of the k1.
 
mt snow was open before them with a free park instead of paying the bullshit costs of a lift ticket for early season down bar flat rail and flat box- killy should at least upgrade the early park and get with the times if theyre gonna pull out the hype train to get started before others
 
throw a railing on their and they will be fine. There may be a line of people walking slow but thats it. Im sure it has to be up with all the code of a staircase around the lodge.
 
As I understand it, they will be adding some metal grating to the walkway to improve traction.
 
well whatever u wanna call it its a better deal then the price of a lift ticket to shred the weak early setup there im just sayin they gotta do something better if other places are offering the same for free at the same time. dude u like defend the shit outa killy and the place blows it could be awesome i had a pass there for 4 years and doesnt compete with loon or mt. snow hopefully tess can change that
 
well i already know that u only ski park, Killingtons park may be not as good as mt. snows or loons but they definately have more steep terrain and alot more options than both of the mountains combined
 
Dude your nuts. The only thing that Mt Snow has over Killy is the park. And quite honestly last year they started slacking on that also. For long periods of time there were long open areas of empty space in Nitro & Inferno.

I've had a pass at Snow for 4 years so maybe like you I'm just sick of it but even when I was a passholder there I would still make trips to Killy and Stowe just to get out of there for a weekend.
 
haha loon and mt snow. We are talking about skiing not park. Having a ribbon of snow and a couple of rails is hardly "open" for a mountain.
 
im talking about early season park- the last 4 seasons at mt.snow where i also was a passholder they had a full park opening weeks- jumps and a bunch of rails- killy leaves the same wackkk 3 features in( when they have wayyy better rails then most places)- i was saying killy needs to step-up their early season park for that $60 ticket because mt.snow which does not even have trails open has the same or better setup on the bunny hill and for free. and besides who gives a fuck about taking a lap down a normal trail
 
YEAAA Killington wasting money on useless shit. Ive been watching this resort go down the tubes my entire life. Leave the mountain alone. Build some hotels and make a "resort" if you really want to make money. There is no money in the skiing. Can someone please justify this waste of money to me?
 
Stairway cost is around $84k total after labor. At least that much will be saved this year alone in reduced snowmaking costs from not needing to blow snow down low just to watch it melt away.

It's a wise investment, and should allow for an earlier opening than would occur if the walkway did not exist.
 
are you really bitching about them trying to get their mountain open in for YOU, the hardcore skier? just about everything they do is tailored toward making money through other means. and you bitch about them doing something so that WE, the skiers who want to be out as early as possible, will benefit from?
STFU and GTFO
 
Fortunately for me Ive moved on to bigger and better things then Killington so I'm really more interested in the prosperity of the resort. I would say they might break even with building this walkway but what you lose in the process is way worse for the skiers. Now that what was Heavenly Traverse is a walkway that will no longer be a trail. Now I'm not sure how familiar you are with killington but that leaves either catwalk which is rarely open or taking the glades triple up to get to coops. Also its an eye soar not that I'll see it or will be seeing it but when I come back thats not something I want to see stretching around the peak. Now saying shit the fuck up and get out I feel is a little excessive. Ive probably skied more seasons in vermont then you've been alive.
 
I'll trade a traverse trail for earlier opening anytime. Boohoo, some may need to work harder to get to their weed hut. Also, I see this as a likely temporary solution to an early season problem.
 
Killingtons gonna do what they think is smart either way. It just doesnt make and sense to drop so much money on something where they dont make money as it is already. If you think Killingtons making money running lifts you are fooled. The only money in the ski industry is in product and lodging and that's merely what I'm trying to say.
 
1 It's mostly expert terrain that will be open with the catwalk so the chance of someone hurting themselves I would bet to be slim to none and If you don't like Killington, don't come here.

 
I'm guessing you work at the accounting department for killington? Obviously the skiing is profitable if there going to open it earlier. You're not making any money if your equipment is sitting dormant and nobody is on it, while money is being thrown out the window by making snow that won't be skied on.
 
exactly. why would people stay in late october at a ski resort when they cant ski? So obviously by opening the skiing earlier theyre hoping that more people will come and stay in the hotels and ski.
 
You just proved my point exactly. There getting people up here by having skiing to get them into HOTELS. Price of a ticket is expensive but nowhere near the price to to stay in the Killington Grand.
 
I work at Alta..They own Alfs, and Watsons. Not hotels but big money makers with food. Alta has it figured out but they would make way more money if they owned Goldminers they made a bad decision on that one.
 
this is true but u also said why are they building a walkway to help open skiing they wont make money that way but they will because people will want to come ski and stay in hotels
 
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